Western U.S. states, especially California, continue to experience many challenges related to wildfires. Those challenges, which include financial and legal exposure, are enormous for electric utilities. In this session, a representative from California’s Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety (Energy Safety), which is responsible for evaluating the wildfire risk reduction efforts of California’s electrical corporations, will discuss the key technical aspects of the guidelines. She will be joined by representatives from Southern California Edison (SCE) and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), who will discuss their utilities’ latest wildfire strategies and mitigation measures.

Key Takeaways:
• Key technical aspects of California Energy Safety’s Guidelines

• PG&E’s Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) program has so far dropped California Public Utilities Commission-reportable ignitions in High Fire-Threat Districts by 34% overall.

• Success stories resulting from SCE’s three-layered wildfire mitigation strategy—grid hardening, detection, and asset monitoring systems, and testing advanced protection schemes.